led the Lakers to 112-108 overtime win<\/a>.<\/p>\nDown six with less than 30 seconds to play, Smart got a steal and drew a foul, making three free throws. Then James poked the ball loose from Reed Sheppard, starting for the injured Kevin Durant, and punctuated the possession with a game-tying 3 right in front of Houston\u2019s bench.<\/p>\n
The Lakers got a stop and had a chance to end the game in regulation, but James\u2019 game-winning 26-footer rimmed in and then out.<\/p>\n
Smart would finish off the Rockets with eight points in overtime, while James had a steal and a block in the final five minutes.<\/p>\n
After the half, James played all but one minute and 53 seconds, sitting on the bench to last second of every timeout to maximize his rest and conserve whatever energy he was able to conjure.<\/p>\n
\u201cThroughout the course of the game we were trying to find ways where I could get a break or whatever the case may be, but the game was so close and it was a (close) possession game that I felt like we could really turn the game to benefit us and win the game,\u201d James said. \u201cAnd if that meant that I didn\u2019t get a break and I had to dig deep \u2014 or deeper \u2014 without getting a break in order for us to possibly win a game and go up 3-0, then so be it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Lakers entered this series with Houston, ready to help James add to his legacy. Without Luka Don\u010di\u0107 and Austin Reaves, the script was there for James to play bravely and fight nobly in what would likely be another first-round exit. But despite being underdogs in each of the three games of the series, the Lakers have almost exclusively looked like the better, more-connected basketball team.<\/p>\n
In Game 3, James scored 29 points in his 45:04 of playing time. No 41-year-old has ever played that many minutes or scored that many points in the playoffs in league history. The previous record holder, LeBron James, set those marks in Game 2.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u00a0always appreciate and don\u2019t take for granted what he\u2019s able to do,\u201d JJ Redick said.<\/p>\n
Rui Hachimura, who has worked out with James since being traded to the Lakers in 2023, told The Athletic that sharing the court with James will undoubtedly be one of the thrills of his career.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the moment right now, I don\u2019t really think about it. But I think in the future, I\u2019ll start thinking about how crazy this whole thing was,\u201d he said. \u201cAlmost like in a dream, you know.<\/p>\n
\u201cGot to appreciate him more.\u201d<\/p>\n
To be clear, the credit for the Lakers\u2019 3-0 lead isn\u2019t solely in James\u2019 hands. He turned the ball over eight times and had all four of the Lakers\u2019 fourth-quarter turnovers. Smart made all the little plays. Hachimura scored 16 of his 22 points in the first quarter, the most he\u2019s ever had in a quarter in his pro career. Jaxson Hayes had two critical fourth-quarter blocked shots to help buy the Lakers more time after they\u2019d surrendered their 15-point lead. The Lakers\u2019 bench out-scored Houston 24-3.<\/p>\n
\u201cLook, there\u2019s a lot of things that happened tonight that were not perfect. Including some stuff I did,\u201d Redick said. \u201c\u2026But you just kind of get onto the next play. And that, to me, is a hallmark of poise; that\u2019s a hallmark of composure. We certainly had a lot of discussions both on the court and in timeouts about correcting some things.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know, we probably made more mistakes tonight as a group \u2014 and not just players, I mean myself included. Made more mistakes tonight, it\u2019s tough to win on the road in the playoffs.\u201d<\/p>\n
If the Lakers do it again, they\u2019ll have completed what will need to be considered an all-time upset, even with the Rockets playing without Durant in Games 1 and 3. In the immediate aftermath of Game 3, the Lakers again found themselves as underdogs for Game 4.<\/p>\n
They\u2019ve played like one \u2014 bottling that mentality and turning into dives for loose balls, timely deflections and consistent fight for rebounds, even when the Rockets exert their massive advantage on the glass (they had 18 offensive rebounds in Game 3).<\/p>\n
\u201cYou got to leave it all on the court, because you never know. That\u2019s been my motto since I got in this league \u2014 just play and leave it all on the court, because you never know. It can be taken away at any moment, right?\u201d Smart said. \u201cAnd with two of our best players down, we got to play desperate. We got to be the most desperate team and that\u2019s how we have been playing and that\u2019s how we are winning, right?<\/p>\n
\u201cThe chemistry has been built because of that and you\u2019re starting to see guy\u2019s confidence go up because of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, Smart said he\u2019s not thinking at all about advancing. The Lakers, for the first time this series, will be on short rest with just one day off in between games.<\/p>\n
\u201cGot one more. It\u2019s not over. We got one more,\u201d Smart said. \u201cAnd we\u2019re in their home and nobody wants to get embarrassed in their home. And we got them in a nailbiter tonight, so it\u2019s one more. We can\u2019t worry about what happens after that because we got to take care of that. So we\u2019ll worry about that after the game. Right now, Sunday is the only thing on our mind.\u201d<\/p>\n
But in these fights, the occasional step back should be permitted. The Lakers are one win away from pulling this off, from extending their season to give Luka Don\u010di\u0107, and more quickly, Austin Reaves, chances to get back on the floor. They\u2019re doing it with a 23-year vet hitting game-tying 3s in the same game where he\u2019s throwing lobs to his 21-year-old son.<\/p>\n
As he finished up his postgame media on Friday, James talked about what the moments with Bronny James have meant \u2014 how they\u2019ve snapped him out of the moment for seconds here or there during this postseason run. He spoke about the immeasurable value there is for a young player to conquer his nerves and contribute.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe amount of confidence that a young kid in our league can get from a post-season game is like, a regular season game would never \u2026 you will never get nervous from a regular season moment ever again when you play meaningful postseason games and postseason minutes,\u201d James said. \u201cAnd (Bronny\u2019s) done that and I think that\u2019s pretty cool for his career, for his confidence.<\/p>\n
\u201cS\u2014, I\u2019ve done enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
As James stood up, he loudly groaned like someone who just played those 45 minutes again all at once, his muscles sore and tight, his tendons strained. For the first time Friday, James was every day of his age.<\/p>\n
But by Sunday, he\u2019ll have figured out a way to reverse time because that\u2019s what the Lakers need.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone has to do a little bit more because of how much we\u2019re missing,\u201d he said earlier during his press conference Friday. \u201cSo, it\u2019s a challenge for all of us.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd we\u2019re figuring it out together on the fly.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON \u2014 LeBron James sat down, but he wouldn\u2019t sit out. LeBron James grabbed his shorts and folded…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":717735,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[7,150,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-717734","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-los-angeles-lakers","10":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116465593440392544","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/717734","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=717734"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/717734\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/717735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=717734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=717734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=717734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}